Life Sciences Commons^™

Mice With A Heterozygous Lrp6 Deletion Have Impaired Fracture Healing, Travis A. Burgers, Juan F. Vivanco, Juraj Zahatnansky, Andrew J. Vander Moren, James J. Mason, Bart O. Williams

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Bone fracture non-unions, the failure of a fracture to heal, occur in 10%–20% of fractures and are a costly and debilitating clinical problem. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway is critical in bone development and fracture healing. Polymorphisms of linking low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), a Wnt-binding receptor, have been associated with decreased bone mineral density and fragility fractures, although this remains controversial. Mice with a homozygous deletion of Lrp6 have severe skeletal abnormalities and are not viable, whereas mice with a heterozygous deletion have a combinatory effect with Lrp5 to decrease bone mineral density. As fracture healing closely models embryonic skeletal …